Beginning in 2021, cohorts of postdoctoral researchers are participating in a scheme to advance academic research on Turkish-Armenian Relations. The researchers carry out independent research, focused on aspects of relations between Armenians, Turks, and (where relevant) other communities that have surrounded them.
Areas of research in 2021--2022 have included:
- Recent initiatives (1999-2021) addressing the multicultural past of the Kurdish-Armenian region of Turkey and the 1915 genocide, of which the city of Diyarbakır was the scene.
- The impact of the 2020 Karabakh war and Turkey’s involvement in it on perception of and discourse about Turkey and Turks in Armenia.
- Official discourse developed around reconciliation as represented in the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet (for the years 2000-2015).
- The role of treasure hunts (definecilik) in Trabzon, Turkey, as instances of remembering.
- Prospects for peace-building between Armenia and Turkey in a non-democratic context. (A collaborative project.)
- The Armenian community in modern Turkey from the establishment of the Republic in 1923 to the September pogroms in Istanbul in 1955.
The postdoctoral researchers receive support in the form of mentoring from senior scholars in the field, together with training in media and policy work arranged by Cambridge Interfaith Programme. Online workshops provide opportunities to exchange findings, discuss analysis, and strengthen scholarly networks.
Scholars produce peer-reviewed journal articles, write for newspapers and general media (explaining their work for a non-specialist audience), and prepare and submit policy recommendations to relevant outlets.
Further reading
The following publications have been generated in the course of this scheme:
[In English:]
- Post-war distrust complicates new Armenia-Turkey talks, OpenDemocracy. 12 January 2022.
- The rise and fall of Kurdish ‘memory work’ on the Armenian Genocide, kurdishpeace.org, 1 July 2022.
- Those who remained inside the real ‘Club’: the precarious Armenian citizens of the early Turkish Republican years, Armenian Mirror-Spectator, 24 July 2022.
- Perspectives | In Armenia-Turkey normalization, where is civil society? Eurasianet, 16 August 2022.
- What do imaginations of haunted landscapes tell us about everyday politics? Takhayyul, 7 September 2022; and seriouslyDifferent.org, 16 September 2022.
- What next for Armenia and Azerbaijan? LSE blog, 23 September 2022.
[In French:]
- Le mouvement kurde et le travail de mémoire du génocide arménien encore menacés par l’État turc, The Conversation, 24 April 2022.
[In Turkish:]
- Türkiye ve Ermenistan Arasındaki Normalleşme Sürecinde Sivil Toplum Nerede? Demos. 31 July 2022.
Within a special issue of the periodical Birikim, on the topic Yeni bir hatırlama kültürüne doğru [Towards a new culture of remembering]
- Geçmeyen Bir Geçmişle Yüzleşmenin Zorlukları: Ermeni Soykırımı ve Kürt Müdahil Öznelliğinin Dönüşümü, Birikim, no 392 (December), pp. 34-52, 2021.
["The challenges of facing an inexorable past: The Armenian Genocide and the transformation of Kurdish intervening subjectivity"] - Hatırlama kültürü ve şimdiki zaman, Birikim, no 392 (December), pp. 53-60, 2021.
["The culture of remembering and the present"]
Note: This project is funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. The views expressed are those of the participants and do not reflect the views of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
